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Donald Trump has accused Elizabeth Warren of being a "racist" and a "fraud', after the Massachusetts senator appeared alongside his Democratic rival to call for Americans to unite against him.

The attack came as Mrs Warren, a liberal favourite, painted the presumptive Republican nominee as a selfish "money grubber" whilst at the same time helping give Mrs Clinton's campaign a populist hue.

The real estate mogul re-upped an old controversy over whether Mrs Warren has wrongly portrayed herself as being of American Indian descent: "She made up her heritage which I think is racist," he said in a phone interview, accusing the senator of using the claim "to advance her career".

Mr Trump once again referred to Mrs Warren as "Pocahontas", a nick name he developed for some weeks ago, that American Indian groups have denounced as offensive.

Goofy Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, pretended to be a Native American in order to advance her career. Very racist!

The clash between the two politicians came as Mrs Warren, a leader of the party's progressive wing and a potential vice presidential pick for Mrs Clinton, campaigned alongside the presumptive Democratic nominee for the first time.

A fiery critic of Wall Street, Mrs Warren's rhetoric about breaking up too-big-to-fail banks and reining in corporate excess is a powerful asset to Mrs Clinton in an election that has become a battle for the hearts of the ailing middle class.

In a potential preview of a Clinton-Warren campaign team, she said Clinton had spent her career fighting for progressive values while Trump was in the campaign to bolster his financial bottom line.

The appearance was a bold attempt to win over supporters of Bernie Sanders, Mrs Clinton's socialist rival in the primary race, some of whom have been drawn to Trump's populist rhetoric.

Speaking in Cincinnati, Ohio, a state in the centre of America's rust belt, Mrs Warren said Mrs Clinton had spent her career fighting for progressive values while Mr Trump was in the campaign to bolster his financial bottom line.

"We're here to fight side-by-side with Hillary Clinton," she said dubbing Mr Trump "a small, insecure money grubber who fights for no one but himself."

"He will crush you into the dirt to get whatever he wants," Mrs Warren told cheering Clinton supporters. "That's who he is."